UAttend

Who We Serve

Educators at U of T desire to engage all students in deep meaningful courses. Educators prefer tools that allow them to focus on teaching rather then fussing with technology, administration, or securing funding for new tools.

Problem

Students must attend to engage with the learning experiences U of T Educators create, but educators lack access to free and accessible tools to track attendance. Current solutions take focus away from class by fiddling with spread sheets, papers, or complicated online solutions. Simple solutions like answering a question at the beginning of class can be hacked through sharing the question or sneaking out of class.

Key Innovation

UAttend combines the simplicity of QR codes with anti-cheating measures such as geo fencing to create a solution where educators can trust attendance is tracked accurately allowing them to focus on what matters most teaching.

Evidence from Interview with U of T Professor

We interviewed U of T's philosophy professor Joseph Heath about the issue. He commented "Like many of my colleagues, I find that classroom attendance has been declining in recent years, making it increasingly important to include attendance as a component of the course grade. Unfortunately, there is no efficient way to take attendance, especially in larger classes in which a roll call would be overly time-consuming. (...) There is a need for an efficient technological solution to this problem."

What is UAttend?

We propose using location based QR codes to track attendance. With this, professors can automate attendance tracking accurately whilst reducing manual errors and verification time. This solution also allows students to track their own attendance and prevents students from cheating, ensuring fair attendance reports.